Assess the significance of Amenhotep III’s reign

Amenhotep III’s reign is significant, as his actions through out his reign have had an impact on his

successors. In this time of prosperity, in the absence of war, Amenhotep III concentrated his time

and energy on his building programme, which remain surpassed and only to be threatened by Ramses II.

Amenhotep III used diplomacy as a method to control and maintain the empire in the absence of

military conflict but in doing this he impacted on his successor by leaving him to deal with the growing

disorder in northern Syria. Amenhotep III appears to have placed emphasis on a new god, the Aten,

the central god in Akenaten’ s reign and he also deified himself making him at that time the first

Pharaoh to do so. Historians used to discuss this are Pamela Bradley, Erik Hornung and Nicholas

Reeves, to name a few. Some evidence to be used are the Colossi of Memnon, the temple of Amun at

Luxor and the Amarna letters. All these contributing factors together show that Amenhotep III’s

reign was significant.

Amenhotep III’s building programme is significant as it surpassed the building programme of previous

Pharaohs. The size, quality and quantity of his building programme remain unsurpassed. Amenhotep

III’s building programme was so magnificent that Ramses II during his reign tried to emulate it and

even then he only surpassed it in the number and scale of his buildings rather than the beauty and

magnificence of them. The Temple of Amun at Luxor is said to be the ‘most magnificent’ of Amenhotep

III’s temples. It has been described as ‘the most beautiful of the preserved buildings of Amenhotep

III’ (Hornung, 1999), ‘Amenhotep III’s principal architectural triumph’ (Reeves, 2001) and as

‘Amenhotep’s greatest building achievement,’ (Bradley, 1999). Amenhotep III’s mortuary temple ‘is the

single largest royal temple known to us from ancient Egypt’ (Dunn, 2003). All that remains of the

temple are the Colossi of Memnon. The Colossi of Memnon are two huge statues of Amenhotep III, 16

metres in height and they are considered to be ‘the most ostentatious of Amenhotep’s many

monuments to himself’ (Cameron, 1993). The stela from his mortuary temple stated, ‘It pleased his

majesty’s heart to make very great monuments, the likes of which never existed since the beginning of

the Two Lands.’ This statement is clearly used as propaganda to show Amenhotep III in a favourable

light but this statement rings true in relation to Amenhotep III than any other Pharaoh. This is

supported by Bradley who states, ‘Although all pharaohs made this claim, it was probably closer to the

truth in the case of Amenhotep III than for any other king of the Eighteenth Dynasty.’ Historians are

in agreement that Amenhotep III’s building programme outshone those of his predecessors and that it

cannot be outdone.
In the absence of war, Amenhotep III ruled his empire through his policy of diplomacy, which allowed

Egypt to be in state of peace and prosperity, a position that Egypt would never again hold in the world.

Diplomatic marriages were a way of ‘maintaining friendly relations’ but also as a way of acquiring ‘luxury

goods.’ When a diplomatic marriage was to take place the princess would be sent to Egypt with rich

dowries as well as luxurious gifts, which added to the wealth and prosperity of Egypt. In return their

fathers expected precious items, such as gold. Despite Egypt’s abundance of gold Amenhotep III

would not exchange gold for a foreign princess. Diplomatic marriages were always one sided. No

Egyptian princess was ever sent to be married in a foreign land, unlike many foreign princesses. The

Amarna letters show Amenhotep III’s reply to one of his correspondents (possibly Kadashman-Enlil of

Babylon) to such a request: ‘no daughter of the king of Egypt is given to anyone.’ Amenhotep III’s

policy of diplomacy is important in two ways. As a result of his diplomacy Egypt became a multicultural

society due to the growing number of foreigners coming to Egypt to trade and settle. The trade and

exchange of gifts between rulers made the Egyptians familiar with the skilfulness of foreign

craftsmen and consequently the local arts and crafts contained some eastern influence. Also, the lack

of military action in western Asia during Amenhotep’s reign meant that his administration became

complacent and thus towards the end of his reign there were some disorder in northern Syria. These

were to intensify during the reign of his successor Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten and create further

problems for him. For most of Amenhotep III’s reign he governed the empire efficiently through his

policy of diplomacy and peace and stability were maintained.

In Amenhotep III’s reign it appears that he has begun to promote the Aten and has deified himself in

order to be worshipped as a god during his lifetime. Amenhotep started to develop an interest in solar

theology and began focusing on one god, the Aten, a form of the sun-god Re and the symbol of divine

kingship. With this interest he was able to exploit the Aten cult as a way of developing his own divinity.

This divinity became more evident after the celebration of his heb sed (thirty year jubilee). After his

first jubilee, reliefs of Amenhotep III show royal iconography depicting him as a noticeably youthful

king. It has been suggested that Amenhotep III’s interest in solar theology had a powerful impact on

his son, Amenhotep IV, where during his reign the importance of the Aten reached its peak. Charles

Freeman (1999) suggests that his father influenced Akenaten’s motives for a religious revolution.

Pamela Bradley (1999) suggests that ‘Amenhotep was deified during his lifetime and statues of him

were worshipped in a number of temples.’ This idea is further supported by a relief in the temple of

Soleb at Nubia, which shows Amenhotep worshipping and making offerings to himself as a god.
However, Jimmy Dunn (2003) states that there is no stela or statues that completely supports

Amenhotep III’s deification in his lifetime. This can be compared to the deification of Ramses II

where his deification brought with it a considerable number of monuments identifying him as a deity

during his lifetime. Yet, Nicholas Reeves (2001) supports Bradley in saying that Amenhotep ‘departed

life at the end of almost four decades of rule already a fully fledged god, ‘the dazzling sun disc.

(Aten)’.’ W. Raymond Johnson (as cited in Reeves, 2001) supports the transformation of Amenhotep

into a god by dating the time the transformation occurred, which is the time of the first jubilee. Besty

Bryan (as cited in Reeves, 2001) further supports this using the inscriptions at numerous temple

structures at Luxor where it is recorded that the king does not join the sun in his barque but he

actually takes the place of the sun. Amenhotep III’s emphasis on the Aten influenced the religious

aspects of his successor’s reign.

It has been proven that Amenhotep III’s reign was significant as he had an impact on the reigns of his

successors. Amenhotep III’s building programme surpassed those of previous Pharaohs and had such

an impact on Ramses II who would try to emulate his massive constructions. Despite Amenhotep III’s

talent for diplomacy his lack of military conflict made his administration complacent and created

disorder in northern Syria that was to worsen and be left to Amenhotep III’s successor to neutralise.

Amenhotep III’s emphasis on the Aten influenced Akhenaten and paved the way for the religious

revolution to come. Amenhotep III’s reign was significant in view of the fact that he had an impact on

the reigns of future Pharaohs.